America's first franchise restaurant Howard Johnson's shutters its last outlet in Lake George

[DrQ]

Last Supper: America's first franchise restaurant Howard Johnson's shutters its last outlet in Lake George

• The last Howard Johnson's restaurant in Lake George, New York, permanently closed after it failed to reopen for the Memorial Day weekend, ending the nearly 100-year-old franchise
• Although it was no longer affiliated with the franchise, the restaurant was the last to bear its name and iconic orange roof after the Lake Placid location closed in 2015 and the Bangor, Maine, site shut down in 2016
• The restaurant had run into trouble in 2017 after its owner was charged with sexually harassing at least 15 female employees, some as young as 14
• As the restaurant changed ownership, it saw dwindling customer base and sporadic open hours until it was eventually put on the market for only $10

Last Howard Johnson's in Lake George closes its door

Standing for more than 70 years, locals were hopeful the restaurant would reopen during the Memorial Day weekend, but reality set in when the Howard Johnson's doors remained shut.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Jacques Pépin declined an offer from John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy to serve as chef at the White House to develop recipes for Howard Johnson's restaurants in 1961.

 

[RNCollins]

I worked one summer during college as a waitress at Howard Johnson’s restaurant. The all you can eat fried fish and clams dinners on Friday night was very popular. They had good ice cream too.

 

[Snazzylass]

Good times! Great memories of something my kids know nothing about Adios, HoJo's!

 

[MrockStar]

Its a sad day, Kmart, Sears and now HOJO's gone.

 

[Luvtoride]

RN, growing up in the 60's the HoJo Friday night All-you-can-eat Fish Fry was our one family restaurant indulgence, maybe once a month.
When one of the local Howard Johnson's turned into a Hooters many years ago, that was bad news.
Sad times for sure.

 

[TheHolleys87]

On our boring, 5-hour drives from New Orleans to Lafayette (LA) in the 1950s, long before I-10 was built, we’d stop at Howard Johnson’s in Baton Rouge for lunch. I have no memory of what main dish I ever ate for lunch there, but to this day I can remember the taste of the raspberry ice cream I’d always have for dessert.

 

[kanerf]

Loved the fried clams. Don't know anyone else who makes them.

 

[ScoopKona]

The reviews of that Lake George HJ's were bad over the past 10 years. I've wanted to take my wife there because she never ate at one. But I wasn't about to visit Lake George just to eat mediocre food. The owners were clearly phoning it in. It's a shame. A motivated owner could "bring it" in the kitchen and ride the nostalgia wave. That menu is dead simple to make.

The building is being leased for $10. So clearly there's going to be a lot of work to bring it back from the dead.

There isn't enough money on the planet to get me to move back to Florida. But if I did, I'd buy the shuttered HJ in St. Augustine and reopen it as "Horace Johannsen's." They locked the place up in the 1980s and it has sat since then. It'd probably only take in the low six figures to make it a working restaurant again. And it's right off I-95.

 

[Passepartout]

Young people will forever be cheated out of the famous movie quote from Blazing Saddles about how the replica town was built, 'Right down to the orange roof on Howard Johnson's outhouse'.

RIP, HoJo's

 

[jonmaiman]

I have fond childhood memories of my mother taking us to meet up with my dad after he finished work for the all you can eat fish fry at HoJo's. Later on they added all you can eat chicken too IIRC. Simpler times and it was a nice treat.

--Jon

 

[clifffaith]

As a kid in the 60s there was a HoJo’s not too far from us. It wasn’t on our regular rotation like some other places, not sure why not. I do know that one year we went on Thanksgiving (which was very unusual because Mom always cooked) and I was super impressed with the bowl of pillow mints (? those little pastel chalky kind) in the entrance that day. The way my parents talked they were quite familiar with the restaurant brand, but I think that had to be in Ohio because I feel like HoJo wasn’t big in the Los Angeles area.

 

[Brett]

I remember HoJo's

 

[Talent312]

While at a HoJo's in Winston-Salem, NC (an odd-places to be in the 70's.), I first heard Jimmy Buffet's song, "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes."

"If we weren't all crazy, we would all go insane," I thought, "I think I'll remember this one."

 

[silentg]

Loved Orange Sherbet cone with chocolate sprinkles, aka jimmies! There are very few Howard Johnson’s hotels now.

 

[dago]

HOJO's was my go to place to eat ( I grew up in Massachusetts where HOJOs got it's start). Food, and in some instances, the service wasn't the greatest, but in that era was a good place to get decent meal. Folks of this generation would think the place is disgusting. Times have changed.
There is still a Howard Johnson hotel not too far from my home here in Ohio. Can't remember ever staying at a Howard Johnsons.

 

[RNCollins]

Loved Orange Sherbet cone with chocolate sprinkles, aka jimmies! There are very few Howard Johnson’s hotels now.

When I worked at HoJo’s I would blend orange Sherbet with Sprite soda. I would drink those practically every shift.